3.
UBC : The University of British Columbia
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Not to be confused with...

”BC” - Boston College

a university in Central America

University Baptist Church

Union of the Baltic Cities

United BioSource Corporation

Uganda Broadcasting Corporation

10.
Marcomm at UBC
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
De-centralized, distributed, dispersed

150+ staff with part or full-time responsibility for marcomm

spread across two campuses, multiple satellite locations

no direct line of reporting to central

no central unit with formal responsibility for university-wide
marketing communications strategy

12.
UBC Communications and Marketing
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Our Raison D’Etre
Bring our brand to life
Compel our target audiences to engage with the university
Enable an integrated distributed model of marcomm

13.
Integrated whatnow?
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
“Integrated Distributed”

Autonomous entities with formalized ties to central initiatives

Some dual-line reporting, some restructuring

Increased level of collaboration and internal communication

(ask us again in two years)

15.
The Blessing
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
UBC is story-rich

16.
The Curse
UBC is story-rich
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

17.
How can we
ﬁnd the best ways
to tell the right stories
to our target audiences?

18.
How can we
ﬁnd the best ways
to tell the right stories
to our target audiences?

19.
The Needs
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Problems we’re trying to solve

What stories should we tell in this year’s annual report?

Who else within UBC is writing a story on social sustainability?

What has already been written about Professor X?

Our President is travelling to Asia - what stories can he tell
about UBC’s involvement in the Asia Paciﬁc region?

How can we elevate and shine a light on the best stories from
the pockets of campus?

20.
The “ask”:
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Help me ﬁnd UBC stories.
I’m looking for...

Our best stories

Stories about [insert ﬁeld of research]

Stories relevant to [insert target audience]

Stories happening in [insert international location]

Stories demonstrating [insert strategic pillar]

Stories with photos / video

Fully-ﬂeshed out stories, but also the seeds of an idea for a story

21.
Build me a “stories database”
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Situation Analysis

Unclear and undeﬁned requirements

We don’t know what we don’t know

No idea how many stories we have about what/whom

No direct connections to many of our story sources

Complex organizational environment

Embedded culture of decentralization

Juggling multiple projects with limited resources

Need a working solution in 3 months

27.
Waterfall
Risks
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

Success hinges on each stage before it

Requirements can change rapidly

Small margin for error

Difficult and costly to change course midway

Learning and knowledge transfer is limited

28.
Project-Speciﬁc Risks
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Decentralized Environment.
Face many unknowns, takes time to capture full set of needs.
Technically, easy. Organizationally, very hard.
Need widespread participation.
High risk of being thrown a loopball midway through.
Short timeframe.
Don’t have much time to turn-ship.

29.
Our Strategy
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Confront the Challenges Head-On

Involve our end-users in the process

Actively solicit and be receptive to feedback

Build prototypes to help deﬁne the scope

Be prepared to change course, to “pivot”

30.
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
What’s the alternative?

32.
Agile
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
aagile
Quick, light, nimble
AAgile
Software development methods
where solutions evolve through
an iterative and incremental
approach.

33.
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Our Approach
a A

34.
DISCLAIMER
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
I agile.
(but I’m not Spiderman)

35.
Agile
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Basics

Reaction to heavyhanded nature of waterfall methods

An iterative and incremental approach

People and interactions over processes and tools

Cross-functional, self-organizing teams

”Customer collaboration”

Build working solutions that can be immediately evaluated

Adapt and respond to change

36.
Agile
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Key Principles

Reaction to heavyhanded nature of waterfall methods

An iterative and incremental approach

People and interactions over processes and tools

Cross-functional, self-organizing teams

”Customer collaboration”

Build working solutions that can be immediately evaluated

Adapt and respond to change

37.
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
People over Processes + Tools
(But there are still Processes + Tools)

38.
User Stories
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Short, simple descriptions of a feature
told from the perspective of the person
who desires the new capability.

39.
User Stories
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
The Template:
As a [type of user],
I want [some goal],
so that [some reason].

40.
As a [type of user],
I want [some goal],
so that [some reason].
User Stories
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Example
As an Editor for a campus publication,
I want to be able to search for stories by date,
so that I can ﬁnd stories for our back-to-school edition.

41.
Example
As an Editor for a campus publication,
I want to be able to search for stories by date,
so that I can ﬁnd stories for our back-to-school edition.
User Stories
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
User
Goal
Reason
As a [type of user],
I want [some goal],
so that [some reason].

42.
Person
Feature
Beneﬁt (motivation)
Example
As an Editor for a campus publication,
I want to be able to search for stories by date,
so that I can ﬁnd stories for our back-to-school edition.
As a [type of user],
I want [some goal],
so that [some reason].
User Stories
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

44.
The Value of User Stories
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Beneﬁts

Captures desired features in a simple, concise way

Simpliﬁes task of gathering requirements

Shifts focus from writing about requirements to discussing them
enabling the team to respond faster

45.
Scrums
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Rugby: An analogy
- scrum to get the ball
- sprint
- pass the ball back + forth
- go the distance as a unit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/muzzanese/

46.
Scrums in Agile
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Scrum: A model for organizing meetings
Planning Meeting

Meetings to organize cycles of work

aka “Sprint Planning Meeting”

Pick user stories to build out during the next “sprint”
Daily Scrums

Timeboxed meeting to provide status updates

What did you work on?
What are you going to work on?
What obstacles do you face?

47.
Sprints in Agile
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Sprints: When the work happens
Timeboxed

1 sprint = 1 week to 1 month

Most common length of a sprint: 2 weeks
Outcomes

Set of new features

Designed, developed, tested, ready for release

1 sprint = 1 cycle of work, the next “set” of features

51.
Grooming the Backlog
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Some stories are “epics” and will take more
than 1 sprint.
Example
As a Writer, when I add a new story about social
sustainability, I want the system to email our
photographer, and our Public Affairs office, and
everyone who needs to know about the story.

52.
Breaking down an “epic”
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
As a Writer, I want the ability to tag a story with, for example the
words “social sustainability”, so that I can describe my story as
speciﬁcally as I can.
As a Writer, I want the system to notify other people that I have
added a story they might be interested in, so that they can read
my story and then decide if they can use it for their own work.
As an Editor, I want the ability to be notiﬁed when a particular
type of story, for example a story about “social sustainability”,
has been added to the system, so that I can stay on top of the
latest stories as soon as they’re released.

53.
Person
Feature
Beneﬁt (motivation)
Example
As a Writer,
I want the ability to tag a story with, for example the words
“social sustainability”,
so that I can describey my story as speciﬁcally as I can.
As a [type of user],
I want [some goal],
so that [some reason].
User Stories
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

61.
Why?Agile beyond software...
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

Increases collaboration, collaboration encourages buy-in

Cross-functional teams increases knowledge exchange

Able to adapt to feedback and change

Able to test hypotheses before investing too much time

62.
Agile approach to Workshops
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

Facilitate cross-functional collaboration

Set up the physical space to support discussions (mini scrums)

Explicitly talk about the desire for feedback, iterations, cycles

Incorporate feedback

Describe what has changed each time (proof points)

Experiment, be prepared to change on the ﬂy

63.
Outcomes
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
What we thought we needed

Structured categorization system (Taxonomy)

Open-ended tagging system (Folksonomy)

Open-ended meta-data

64.
Outcomes
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
What we actually needed

Structured categorization system (Taxonomy)

Open-ended tagging systems (Folksonomyies)

Open-ended meta-data
+ To build a shared understanding of a “story”
+ Technology to enable workﬂows not replace them
Multiple
(that could grow over time)
Speciﬁc

65.
Hierarchy of Needs
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
(thanks Maslow)

66.
Hierarchy of Needs
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Decentralized Environment
+

67.
Different Sets of Needs
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Open Tags Structured Categories
Local Needs Institutional Needs

76.
Folksonomy
Multiple folksonomies
Open-ended tagging
Grows based on speciﬁc, unique needs
the local perspectives
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

77.
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Local
Perspective
Institutional
Lens
Bingo!

78.
StoryBox Results
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way

Zero to working prototype in 1 month

Within 6 months:
500+ stories
139 people
68 units (departments, offices)

Actively used for the 2012/2013 Annual Report

79.
StoryBox Next Steps
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Not all roses...

Pressing need to better understand local/distributed needs
and interests
Phase 2

Build further into day-to-day workﬂows

Tie in to broader storytelling strategy

80.
Agile - Why it worked for us
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
Well-deﬁned goals, unknown “end product”

We knew the problem well, we weren’t sure about the solution
Scratching our own itch

We had direct access to our “end users”

We were a sub-set of our end users
Right team, right infrastructure

We had people willing to be agile and to try Agile

We had a suitable technical infrastructure in place

81.
Considering Agile?
StoryBox | A story of getting things done the agile way
What to look for

“In-house” projects

Have “T-Shaped” people who work well in teams

Undeﬁned scope, unclear end product

Need for speed, short timeframes

Direct access to target market